The Incurable Condition
by UnknownPen
Summary: *Summary subject to change* What really makes us who we are? The answer to that question can be the scariest thing in the world. A story about love, hate and everything in between. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A new story! Yay! I,m terribly sleepy right now but I couldn't let the day go by without uploading this. I hope you enjoy it. I can't promise to update regularly - school has me superbusy and finding time to write is getting harder - but I have the first few chapters of this fic ready and hopefully that will keep you satisfied until my writer's block, er, unblocks :-) Do remember to leave a review if you liked it. **

**The Incurable Condition**

**Chapter 1**

Tucker Foley squared his jaw and narrowed his eyes behind their rectangular lenses. He made a quick calculation in his head, carefully lining up his shot. There was a lot at stake here – honour for instance. Manhood. The timing, the release, the acceleration , had to be just right.

The ball rolled into the gutter.

Behind him, two girls burst into gales of laughter. Tucker's nostrils flared as he mournfully watched the ball disappear, the ten untouched pins gleaming under the fluorescent pink lighting.

"Dude!" his partner wailed.

Tucker finally turned around, swallowing hard. The girls were still in fits. There was no way he and Danny were going to catch up to them now.

"Sorry, man," he shrugged, taking his seat and crossing his arms. Danny dropped his face into his palms, grabbed fistfuls of his already messy hair and shook his head. This was humiliating. They were getting creamed – by Valerie, Queen of Girliness and Sam "Puts the _Fun_ in Funerals" Manson no less.

Valerie focused her camcorder on herself. "Oh," she said, her voice full of insincere woe, "Tucker found the gutter _again._" Her expression brightened. "My turn," she chirped, handing the camera to her partner.

Sam took it and trained it on the boys. Tucker looked like he was trying to fold himself in half. Danny was watching Valerie through his fingers, as if he was in a horror movie. The Goth girl chuckled. For sixteen year old boys, those two could be such drama queens. She dropped a nacho into her mouth and crunched contentedly.

Valerie picked up her ball, did a little booty shake and stepped up to the line. Danny found a smile growing at his girlfriend's antics. His eyes lingered on her behind a little longer than they were supposed to. He knew from Sam's cough and none-too-subtle eye roll that she'd caught him staring. His face began to warm up.

Just as Valerie let go of the ball, Tucker yelled, " Ooga booga booga!"

But Valerie held her nerve and calmly released the ball. It sailed straight and true, knocking down all ten pins. She twisted around on her heel, a smug smile already filling her face.

"And that, gentlemen," she began, dusting her hands triumphantly, "is that."

She took a bow. Danny stood. "Hey, I'm man enough to admit defeat." He leaned on the table and rested an arm on Val's shoulder. She looked up at him, her smirk softening into something more tender. She reached behind him and pulled him closer, resting her cheek on his shoulder. Sam felt her smile give way a little.

"Aww," Val gushed sweetly, "you don't have to be cause WE GOT IT ON TAPE!" She jumped away from his hold and began doing another dance. "Uh huh, uh huh, it's my birthday, uh huh!"

Tucker folded his arms and huffed. "Yeah, well, if it had been Virtual Bowl 4, that would have been another story."

Sam stood and patted his head. "Whatever gives you hope, buddy." She added a soft, good natured punch to his cheek so that he knew she was joking. He grinned up at her.

Suddenly, the lights began to flicker. The pop music that had been streaming through the speakers (much to Sam's disgust) was replaced with static. The foursome looked around in confusion.

"What's going on?" Tucker wondered aloud. His eyes bulged as the bowling balls in the rack were surrounded by an eerie green light and began to levitate. Screams broke out as the balls began to fly through the air. Danny felt the telltale tingle of his ghost breath and tensed immediately.

"Everybody down!" he yelled and his friends were quick to oblige. "Get behind the counter!" Sam crawled away quickly, Tucker at her heels. Valerie was behind them but by the time they reached the counter where the attendant had kept their shoes, she was nowhere to be found. They knew better than to worry about her though. She was probably changing into her Red Huntress gear. The one Sam was worried about was Danny, who had taken advantage of the melee to transform into the white-haired, green-eyed ghost known as Danny Phantom. Peeking carefully above the counter, she and Tucker could see their friend engaged in battle with a pale figure sporting a yellow-and-black bowling shirt with a cape who had prodigiously proclaimed himself The Bowling King.

The King was launching fiery balls and pins at Danny, but the phantom was too quick. He dodged and countered, aiming his own ectoplasmic blasts at the missiles, causing them to explode. Sam felt herself be pulled down roughly. One of the pieces from a blown up ball had narrowly missed the top of her head. Tucker stared at her fiercely and she nodded, message received: _Be careful. _

Valerie, dressed as Red Huntress swooped in on her rocket-powered board. She hesitated when she caught sight of Phantom and her heart constricted with anger like it always did when she was around him. She hovered, her fingers tightening around her weapon.

"Get out of here!" he yelled over his shoulder at her. "I'll handle this guy." He swooped and aimed a blast at the bearded ghost. It missed narrowly.

"Not a chance, freak!" she shouted back. "I'm taking you both out!"

Phantom's eyes blazed in that frustrated, familiar way that she was sure was just for her. "Valerie, please! For once just listen! Don't be stupid!"

"Don't call me stupid!" she screamed.

Bowling King floated quietly, all but forgotten. His eyes darted between the teenage ghost and the hunter-girl like he was watching a tennis match. The tension between them crackled like electricity. He shrugged. As amusing as they were, it was time to take care of them.

"A seven-ten split," he gleefully mused, calling two of the largest bowling balls to himself. "Let's see if I can pick up a couple of spares!"

The ghost boy and the human girl were so focused on their altercation that they hardly saw the flaming balls hurtling towards them. They were thrown into opposite walls, with Valerie slamming into the large neon _Ace Bowling_ sign that covered one wall. The sign flickered off with a loud buzzing sound and streams of sparks. The circuitry of her suit was exposed, but it looked like it had managed to absorb most of the missile's impact. Nonetheless, she lay slumped against the wall, unmoving and apparently, unconscious.

Danny, on the other hand had landed quite close to Sam and Tucker's hiding place. Sam, too concerned for her friend to care about the danger to herself frantically crawled over to him.

"Danny!" she screamed. The fall had taken a lot out of him. Temporarily stunned, he had reverted back to his human form. He groaned pathetically. Sam cradled his head in her hands, furiously repeating "Danny, get up" over and over. Her body was trembling and she sent up a silent, desperate invocation that her best friend would be all right and just _get up._

When Danny's blue eyes fluttered open, Sam felt such relief it threatened to choke her. "Sam?" he mumbled. She could tell when it all came back to him, because he quickly morphed back into Phantom. "Get back behind the counter!" he ordered her, launching himself up.

A pained grunt called Danny's attention to the Red Huntress, who was slowly stirring, and by the looks of it, in a fair amount of agony. His stomach dropped as he watched Valerie's head loll back and he turned back to The Bowling King, brimming with fury. He had given this bottom tier fool a lot more time than he deserved. It was time to end this.

"That was your last strike," he yelled. He caught one of the flaming balls and smirked, "Prepare to get crowned." He let the energy in his hands build up and then let fly two fistfuls of ectoplasmic power at the other ghost.

The King fell to the ground and skidded to a stop. Tucker fished a Fenton thermos out of his backpack and sucked the ghost in before he could recover. With a deft twist of the lid, he threw the thermos back into his bag.

As soon as the ghost was gone, the lights returned to normal and the music resumed as if nothing had happened. That, coupled with sheer relief, brought hysterical giggles bubbling out of the bespectacled boy.

"Nice work Fenton," he congratulated him. "You really _bowled him over!"_

Sam rolled her eyes but didn't comment. "How are you feeling?" she asked Danny. Before he could reply, they heard the crunch of glass as Valerie shifted against the broken neon bulbs. She was awake! Acting quickly, Danny rose and phased through the ceiling. Sam grabbed the Tucker by the scruff of his neck and dragged him outside. By the time Red Huntress opened her eyes, she was the only one in the shell-shocked building.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The three friends congregated outside, with Danny having returned to human form. The night was warm and with the exertion of fighting the ghost, he was pretty sweaty. Sam could feel her gauzy top stick to the small of her back. It was an old, ratty, off-white T-shirt that she had worn so many times, it had about a dozen holes and was pretty much see-through. It was anarchic, just like she was. Old ladies were constantly frowning at her in the street which never failed to give her a sense of self-satisfied accomplishment. She did have _some_ class though, so she now wore it with a black tank underneath.

Tucker had whipped out his PDA and was eagerly playing a noisy shooting game with his tongue peeking out of the side of his mouth. They were waiting for Valerie to emerge, knowing that they had given her enough time to rid herself of her Red Huntress guise. It was something they were used to, something they did so that Valerie could feel like her "secret" was safe. Sam hated pretending but Danny insisted on it. He was leaning against the hood of their Toyota cracking his knuckles nervously. Earlier in the year, she, Danny and Tucker had pooled their money to buy a car. Sam couldn't drive yet – she'd have to wait until November to get her license, but she had insisted on chipping in. Unfortunately, the day the boys had actually bought the car, she'd been at the dentist. She was horrified at how safe and suburban the car was. She'd wanted a hybrid. That was admittedly even more suburban but at least it was better for the environment. The only thing she approved of in their car was the colour – a dull, patchy black.

Danny was chewing his bottom lip, eyes trained on the door of the building. "She's taking a long time."

Sam followed his line of sight. "I'm sure she's fine. Probably just fixing her hair or something." She turned to the boy beside her. "What about you? How are you?"

Danny ran a hand through his jet black hair. "Now I know how a bowling pin feels." He shot her a sheepish smile. "I'm fine," he insisted, when he didn't receive a smile in return.

"You need to tell her," Sam stated.

Danny sighed. _Not this again,_ he thought. He got off the hood of the car and took a step away from her, intimating that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Seriously, Danny," Sam grabbed his arm and forced him to face her. "You can't fight when she's around because you're too busy trying to protect her. Meanwhile, the only thing she wants is to serve your carcass on a platter."

"That is an unpleasant image," Tucker grimaced, fingers still moving madly over the keypad.

"That bowling ghost was nothing," she continued. "The only reason he got a shot in is because your head wasn't in the game. It never is when she's around and one of these days, it's gonna come back to bite you."

"True dat," Tucker chimed in. He finally looked up from his game. "What? When she's right, she's right."

"You know it's not that easy," Danny said. "I can't just tell her. You know how she feels about ghosts."

"But if she really loves you—"

"I don't want to talk about this, okay?" he interjected angrily. "Just stop bringing it up."

Tucker cleared his throat and nodded his head towards the door. Danny turned and Valerie launched herself into his arms. He squeezed her tight and she jerked against him.

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" he demanded, pulling away from her and running his eyes down her body and back up to her face. There was no visible injury. "Did I hurt you?"

She lifted her beaded brown shoulder bag. "No, my bag was just pressing against me." He searched her gaze but her unaffected grin held fast. He leaned down and pecked her on the lips. Sam looked away.

"Well, good 'cause I was worried about you," he said.

"We all were," Sam added. "Where did you disappear to?"

Danny shot her a fierce glare but Sam didn't falter. "I ran into the girls' bathroom," Valerie replied calmly. All these years of leading a double life were beginning to affect her. She was an excellent liar. "What about you guys? Are you all right?"

Tucker and Sam assured her they were.

"I guess that's our cue to leave then," Danny said, clapping his hands once.

"Um, aren't we forgetting something?" Tucker asked. He pointed downwards. The four were still in the maroon and white bowling shoes. They shared a light laugh and went in to get their shoes. Valerie played shoe attendant and passed everyone their shoes from behind the counter. However, just as she was leaving, the toe of her leopard-print ballet flats connected with something. It turned out to be her precious camcorder, lying abandoned and forlorn. She glanced at Sam, who was lacing up her heavy boots, feeling rather irritated at her carelessness. Okay, yes, it might be understandable under the circumstances but still, it was a pretty expensive thing to just leave lying about. She picked it up. It was still on so she pressed the power button and dropped it into her bag. On her way out she admonished herself for her thoughts. She shouldn't be mad at Sam over a _camera._ That was the old Valerie. New Valerie valued people over property. As long as everyone was all right, that was what mattered. Besides, it wasn't her fault. It was the stupid ghosts' fault.

Once they got outside, Danny announced that he was going to ride with Valerie. He tossed Tucker the keys to their car, which he received with an ecstatic hoot. They said their goodbyes and Danny got into Val's dad's white BMW. She wanted to drive him home but he insisted that as a gentleman, he should see her to her door. Her dad was out of town, he pointed out, and he just wanted to ensure she was safe. Valerie thought it was sweet how overprotective he was being. She was a strong, capable young woman, but sometimes, she had to admit she liked the feeling of being taken care of.

She parked in front of her apartment building. This was a much nicer place than the one she and her dad had found themselves in after the ghost boy and his dog ruined their lives. It was two-bedroom, two-bath (which is all they really needed anyway) and it had a spacious living area with fantastic wood floors and large windows. It was also a lot closer to Fenton Works, an added bonus.

They climbed to the first floor and stopped outside apartment 2D. In the old building, there would have been the smell of pee in the hallway, dodgy lighting and a baby's wail permanently in the background. New Valerie or not, she couldn't be happier to be out of that place.

She fiddled with her keys. "Well, Officer Protective, here we are," she stated. "Is this good enough for you or would you like to escort me to my room?" Her face warmed. "Crap, that came out wrong."

Her boyfriend laughed. After a moment's embarrassment, she joined in.

She brushed away the curly strands of hair that had escaped from her ponytail. "Seriously though, thanks for seeing me home. Very chivalrous."

He decided to assist her. His fingertips grazed her cinnamon-brown forehead as he gently pushed her hair back. "Of course. I just want you to be safe."

She felt a shy smile take over her face. "Anyway I had a lot of fun tonight. Thanks for everything." She kissed him on the cheek and stuck her key in the door. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," he echoed, hands in his jean pockets.

"Val?" He called as she was going in. She turned to him questioningly. "You know I love you, right? I really do." His voice was low, gravelly and his eyes, so startlingly blue, were solemn and intense.

She searched his gaze, lines of worry crossing her forehead. "I know, babe," she answered slowly. She raised her hands to his lightly tanned cheeks. "And I love you."

They drew together into a tender, affectionate kiss. He kept his arms around her even when they broke apart and she let herself be crushed against him, inhaling the scent of his body spray. He pressed his lips to her forehead and released her. With a final wave, she bid him a goodnight and shut the door. He lingered and stared at the curvy gold letters on the mauve door before tucking his hands back into his pockets and heading home.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This is where the drama begins... :)**

**Chapter 3**

Valerie dropped her keys on the counter and pried off her shoes. She flicked on the lights, illuminating the living room. Her dad's taste could be described as traditional (a.k.a. boring) so the main hues in the room were warm browns and stern blacks. There was a couch the same shade as roasted coffee beans that was the most comfortable piece of seating ever created. It was flanked by matching armchairs. The ebony-coloured coffee table was covered in magazines – Mr. Grey's science and technology journals and his daughter's fashion publications. The walls were the colour of warm buttermilk.

There were no phone messages so she went straight to her room. She took the camera out of her bag and placed it on her desk and then dropped the bag on her the fuschia Mexican blanket she had received as a gift from her Aunt Tia, the same Aunt who had bought her the camcorder for her sixteenth three months ago. She stood before the mirror and lifted her shirt. Her abdomen had been in agony ever since that ghost had hit her with a bowling ball. She twisted this way and that and sure enough, there was a patch of darkened bruised skin. She gingerly pressed her fingertips to it and flinched – it was sore but she'd survive. She shuddered to think how much worse off she would have been without her suit. Speaking of which, she retrieved it from her bag and examined the damage with a shake of her head. It was in pretty bad shape. Her dad would probably be able to repair it, but she would have to wait until he got back from Tokyo. In the meantime, she could use her spare suit.

She swept aside the clothes hanging at the back of her closet and dialed a code onto the hidden keypad. The entire panel swung around, so that instead of sweet floral dresses and trendy jackets, there was a sleek red suit and an array of shiny metallic ghost-fighting weaponry. She hung up the old suit and stuffed the new one into her bag.

After a quick shower and a change into a grey baseball shirt and shorts with tiny yellow daisies on them, she fetched herself a raspberry yoghurt. Eagerly smacking her lips at the delicious treat she returned to her room and plopped on her bed to check her FaceSpace page. The profile photo had her and Danny sharing an ice-cream cone. Even though she had her tongue hanging out and a white line of rapidly melting vanilla dribbling down her chin, she absolutely loved that picture. Danny's wide eyed bemusement from the other side of the cone actually made her laugh audibly. She looked like an idiot but she was at least she was a happy idiot. Old Valerie would never have put up anything so embarrassing on the Internet.

She got her camera and transferred the still photos and video to the laptop. She uploaded a couple of pictures to her FaceSpace page and then decided to watch the footage she had captured. The first thing she saw was her own face grinning into the lens. The picture was shaky and amateurish because she'd been trying to walk and film at the same time. She panned away and started to walk backwards so that she could focus on her friends.

"Say hi to the camera, guys!"

"Hi!" Tucker and Danny waved.

"Ugh, do you have to record _everything_ nowadays?" Sam complained, shoving a palm into the lens. "Cut it out!"

Valerie then appeared again and confided to the camera: "And that's Sam on a good day."

"I heard that," came Sam's sarcastic voice from behind her coupled with sniggers from the boys.

Their night had started off at Nasty Burger. Valerie had worked there for nearly her entire freshman year. Everyday she'd left work with her clothes smelling like they'd been dipped in batter, deep fried and served with a side of coleslaw. Her ex-friends Paulina and Dash had given her so much grief over that. They were such jerks. She was actually glad to be done with them. Anyway, there was this guy who used to come in twice daily and buy four Nasty Burgers each time. He was huge, like _huge._ Whenever he came in she'd have to bite her tongue to keep from sending him out of there and off to a gym. She'd try and be subtle by offering him salads but he never wanted any. She had this morbid vision of him keeling over and dying right in front of her and just before he breathed his last, raising a finger and hissing, "It's your fault."

Some good had come out of it though. She had begun to eat healthier, not least because she knew just how bad Nasty Burger was for you. It wasn't about losing weight – she had long understood that she'd never be as skinny as Star or Sam. They were lucky because they never had to work to maintain their figure. For her part Valerie was curvy and proud of it. But she was the Red Huntress so she had to be fit if she was going to hunt ghosts effectively.

There had been some funny moments, too. One time this guy had come in and he had an enormous bulbous nose. It's just one of those things where no matter how had you try, your eyes keep wandering back to that feature. Anyway, Ellen, Val's coworker (who had about as much tact as a porcupine in a balloon factory) took his order and then drolly remarked to Val, "Dude, look at the _face_ on that nose." And the guy was like two feet away! He'd turned and shot Ellen the dirtiest look ever and then walked right out of the restaurant. Valerie had nearly passed out from laughing. Even today, that was one of her favourite stories to tell.

She was watching footage from the bowling alley now. The girls were good-naturedly ribbing the boys when the lights changed. This was the moment when the bowling ghost attacked. Why any ghost would choose to haunt a bowling alley was beyond her. He must have been such a loser in the Ghost Zone. She really hated ghosts. All they ever did was ruin stuff. The footage shook as Sam ducked behind the counter and then the view became skewed when she left the camera on the floor. There were loud crashing sounds and flashes of Tucker's leg here and Sam's arm there but nothing interesting since most of the action was taking place above them. Valerie sighed and pressed the forward button, barely watching now.

_Stupid ghosts,_ she grumbled. _Stupid Phantom._ If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have been taken down by that ridiculous bowling ghost. She rubbed her dully aching abdomen unconsciously.

Valerie's eyes were this close to closing when something she saw made her sit up. She frantically pressed the rewind button and let it play. Danny was on the ground and Sam was cradling his head. Val's insides dissolved. When had Danny got injured and why hadn't he mentioned it to her? Her eyes were drawn to the way Sam's slender fingers were stroking the hair at the fallen boy's temple and she felt a lump form in her throat. The Goth girl fancied herself very good at hiding her emotions but right then and there, it was obvious how much she cared for him.

Danny's eyes were shut and his mouth was ajar. Then all at once his eyes burst open. Sam breathed deeply, clearly relieved. Valerie was relieved too, as much as she knew that Danny hadn't remained on that floor. He shared a look with Sam, one that spoke volumes. Years of friendship had made words unnecessary between the two of them, and Tucker too. Over the past couple of years, Valerie had felt more and more like a part of the group but she'd always felt that despite their gradual acceptance of her, there were still things she wasn't privy to.

She could never have imagined how right she was nor guessed in a million years what those 'things' might be if she hadn't witnessed it with her own eyes, but right there on the screen, with a ring of bluish-white light Danny Fenton's appearance changed. His red shirt turned into a black body suit with silver gloves. His eyes became an unnatural green and his hair was suddenly bleached silvery white. Finally, a faint green aura surrounded him, brightening his tanned face. And if there was any doubt in her mind what she was seeing, there was the tell-tale stylized _DP_ on his chest. Once the transformation was complete, he launched himself into the air, leaving Sam staring after him.

The blood rushed from Valerie's face and her breath hitched in her windpipe. Her entire body felt like it was slowly turning to stone. All she could do was continue to stare at the screen until the part where the recording had ended with her picking the camera up and turning it off. Disbelieving silence followed. She must have been mistaken, she told herself, or simply misunderstood. Eventually she managed a slow blink which resolved her blurry vision into crystal clarity. Almost like a wound-up toy, everything began to move at once. Her breathing picked up to a frenetic rate and her stillness was replaced with a burning shudder that reached down to her toes. With a trembling finger Valerie played the video again, almost fearfully navigating to the part where _it_ had happened. But no matter how many times she watched it, it just didn't make sense to her. Everything felt surreal – like she wasn't quite present. It took a while to register the dampness on her face. She touched her fingers to her cheeks and observed the clear wetness coating her fingertips and that only made her weep harder, because the nightmarish reality of the situation had finally penetrated to her core.

The boy she loved and the ghost she hated were the same person.

**A/N: That's all for now, mis amores. Don't forget to drop me a line.**


	4. Chapter 4

**I am dog-tired. School is murder and I have a mother of a cold, but out of gratitude to those who reviewed, alerted and even favourited(!), here's a new chapter. Now don't get too excited. It is (hangs head in shame) a filler, BUT the chapter you have all been waiting for will be up soon, hopefully by Sunday. Then we'll see how Val reacts when she and Danny meet. So Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, Kuchiki-san urahara, Toirneach, Lady Lawless and Oak Leaf Ninja, this is for you! Please note this story is slightly AU and may deviate from canon in parts. Don't be too perplexed. **

**C****hapter 4**

Danny pressed his cell to his ear and listened while Valerie's phone rang. He was on his bed, arm behind his head and legs crossed as he stared up at the NASA poster that he had stuck on his ceiling. It was a stunning photograph of the planet Saturn taken by the Cassini space probe. With the sun lighting it up from behind, the planet possessed an ethereal beauty that no artist's brush could ever fully imitate. Space was truly the coolest place ever.

When Valerie failed to answer, the phone went silent. Danny swung his legs over the side of the bed and pressed a button to review his outgoing calls. So he hadn't accidentally called another number by mistake; Valerie's winking face smiled back at him from the screen. Well, then why wasn't she picking up?

An obnoxious honk cut into his thoughts. He stuck the upper half of his body out the window and grinned at Sam and Tucker, who had the top down and were waving cheerfully at him.

"Get out here, Fenton!" Sam hollered from the passenger's seat.

"I'm comin'!" Danny yelled back. He hastily pulled on a black shirt over his Dumpty Humpty t-shirt, pulled on his red and black sneakers, shoved his cell phone into his jean pocket and raced downstairs.

"Honey, have you had breakfast yet?" Maddie Fenton asked from the kitchen. Her son skidded to a stop and stuck his head into the kitchen.

"What?"

She waved a piece of toast. "Breakfast."

He bit the toast and pressed his crumby lips to her cheek. "I'll get something from Nasty Burger later."

"That's not—" Maddie began but he was already out the door. "—good for you." She dusted the crumbs off her cheek and shook her head.

Danny vaulted into the backseat. "Hola, amigos! Ready to buy some games?"

"Oh, yeah!" they replied enthusiastically and Tucker floored it.

Ten minutes and a Nasty Breakfast Meal later, they were at Gamer Planet. They came here every two weeks to check out the new games. The owner was a pretty cool guy and he didn't mind kids coming into his store and kicking back, playing video games. They were allowed to try an unlimited number of games, though there was a thirty minute time limit on each. As a result, Danny and the gang were likely to spend at least half their day there before they actually bought something.

The trio entered and was met by Tad, the bearded manager. "Hey, guys. What's up? Tucker, my dude, you'll never guess what I got."

"Avengers of the Ninth Legion!" Tucker squealed and Tad nodded. The bespectacled boy practically jumped on the larger man. "Show me, show me!" His eyes shone.

Tad led the excited boy away. Danny and Sam went about scanning the shelves, looking for anything that might catch their eye. Sam pulled out a game.

"Ben Ten," she read. She studied the picture for a moment. "Whatever," she concluded, putting it back. Danny snatched it before it landed on the shelf.

"Actually, it looks kinda interesting," he opined. Sam shrugged.

They went through the shelves, exchanging monosyllables now and then. After several minutes, Sam came up beside her friend and folded her arms.

"All right, Fenton, what's up?"

He started. "Nothing. Why would be anything be up?" He pulled out another game and then slid it back.

"Because you're checking your phone like every ten seconds," she answered.

"I am _not_," he denied. Sam's glare was even and unwavering. "Okay," he admitted. "I am. But it's only because I tried calling Val today and she hasn't picked up my calls."

Tucker came up behind them, clutching his game to his chest. "What's going on?"

"Danny called Valerie today and she didn't pick up," Sam replied in a bored monotone.

"So?"

"_So_," Danny answered, "it's not like her. She always picks up on the third ring latest."

Sam and Tucker exchanged glances then guffawed loudly.

"I've called her twice today and she hasn't answered," Danny insisted only drawing further laughter from his friends. "She didn't answer yesterday either when I called to say goodnight. What if something's happened to her?"

"You guys call each other every single night?" Sam asked. Danny nodded. "You sicken me," she remarked flatly.

Tucker raised his glasses so he could wipe the tears from the corner of his greenish-brown eyes. He put a hand on Danny's shoulder, his other hand clutching his abdomen. "Dude, you are so whipped."

"I am _not!_" Danny scowled, looking to Sam for support. Instead all she did was smirk at him and make a "Wktsh!" sound.

Danny seethed. Of course, they wouldn't take this seriously. They didn't know Valerie like he did. Maybe today's missed calls weren't that big a deal, but coupled with the fact that she had missed their nightly phone call (which was practically obligatory) it was a cause for concern. He'd taken her home last night but she could have gone out ghost hunting and been injured. What if she had been kidnapped and was trapped somewhere? He couldn't just stand around – he had to find her.

"Danny, stop jumping to your usual paranoid conclusions," Sam broke in. That girl had an uncanny way of knowing exactly what he was thinking. Most times, it impressed him but right now it was just irritating. "She was probably just asleep, or in the shower, or getting her hair done…"

"Maybe she was tired of her phone ringing every five seconds," Tucker chipped in. He shrugged off the daggers that Danny threw him. "What? Dude, there are a thousand different reasons why she might not pick up the phone. Give the girl a break. Keep some mystery going. Girls don't like it when guys are too predictable."

Sam rolled her eyes. Here was the least qualified male on earth giving advice to the most clueless person she'd ever met. Talk about the blind leading the blind_. _

"I, I can do that," Danny answered uncertainly after mulling it over. Even as he said that, he was nervously drumming his fingers on the phone.

"Care to make a wager?" Tucker challenged. "Twenty bucks if you manage to go all day without calling her."

"I want some of that action," Sam stuck her hand in.

Danny was a sucker for a bet; it was one of his weaknesses. He quashed down the uneasy feeling in his stomach. His friends were probably right. He was just being paranoid. Valerie was probably somewhere with one of her friends right now, sipping lattes and too busy shopping and having fun to hear the phone. He took his friends' hands with each of his own.

"Deal."

"Well, no more time wasting," Tucker declared, holding up Avengers of the Ninth Legion. "Let's get to gaming!"

**A/N: Sweet, sweet Danny. If he only knew what awaits him. Stay tuned for... The Confrontation!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Here you go! This is the chapter I promised, although it's a bit late due to a dismal net connection. Unfortunately, I won't be updating this quickly in the future. Only a couple more chapters are written out. The rest are sitting patiently inside my imagination. Thank you, though, to all the awesome reviewers, and this one here is for the story alerters, because I know what it's like to find a story I enjoy on this site and to hope that the author will continue. I'm humbled that you're as excited about this story as I am.**

**Oh, and in case it wasn't obvious, I don't own a thing. Danny Phantom belongs to...whoever it belongs to.**

**Chapter 5**

_I__t's been a long day_

_And all I've got to say is "Make it strong"_

_It's been a long day_

_And all I've got to say is I've been wrong_

_So take a leave of absence _

_Tell me you'll be gone _

_I don't want to see your face_

_It's been a long day _

_And I just wanna hide away_

**_Been a long day_**

**_ Rosi Golan_**

.

Danny sat on the covered toilet seat and checked his messages. There was no text from Valerie. There was nothing on FaceSpace either, although she had already managed to upload last night's photos. He stared and stared at the contact picture of her winking at him and could feel his resolve thinning. It was all he could do to stop himself from dialing her number.

He stuffed the phone back into his pocket and flushed the toilet. After washing his hands, he exited the restroom and returned to the Foleys' den where his friends were sprawled on beanbags eagerly jabbing at their game controllers. He paused under the arched entrance and watched them play for a moment.

"Hey, guys," he piped up. "I think I'm going to go."

"What!" Tucker exclaimed, dodging an attack from Sam's starship, "you can't leave. It's only, like, seven o'clock!"

"Sorry man," Danny shrugged. "It's just that my mom has this new rule where we all have to eat together as a family once a week."

"Why would she want to do that?" Sam sneered, pausing the game and earning a glare from Tucker. She hadn't sat down to a meal with her parents since she was ten years old.

Danny shook his head. "I don't know. I think she watched it on Oprah or something. Either way, I can't get out of it."

"Just don't go," Sam advised him. "Say you can't eat as a family unless Jazz is there." Jazz was away at college in Maine.

Danny chuckled. "I think I'll go anyway. It's the first time and it means a lot to Mom."

Reluctantly, his friends let him go. Ordinarily he would have just slept over at Tucker's but the feeling that something might be wrong with Valerie was gnawing at him. For their sakes, he'd managed to pretend that he had forgotten all about it. He hadn't wanted his friends to feel like he was dissing them for his girlfriend so he'd stayed and ignored the churning in his stomach. But deep inside he'd known that he couldn't let this day end without confirming that Valerie was fine. And technically, he would still win the bet since nobody had said anything about him seeing her face-to-face.

He drove to her place and took the stairs two at a time to her floor. Her door stood shut looking so normal and innocuous that he almost felt foolish for worrying. He knocked and waited. Nothing. He knocked again, called her name but there was no answer. Maybe she wasn't in. Disappointed, he turned to leave then stopped midstride. It wouldn't hurt to check, to be sure that she wasn't home. At the very least, it might begin to calm his nerves. He snuck a quick look around the hallway and listened keenly for any noise, then hastily morphed to Phantom. He went intangible and poked his head through the wall. The living room was dark but there was nothing amiss. However, light from Valerie's room spilled into the hallway through her door, which was ajar. Danny phased through fully and floated towards the light. If he had been in human form his heart would have been thudding in his throat. He neared, dreading what he might see.

Peeking into the room, he saw that it was a total mess. There were clothes strewn everywhere, papers, the bed spread had been pulled down, the writing desk and chair had been turned over and there in the midst of it all, facedown, laid the girl he had come to see. Danny was so scared that he could hardly concentrate enough to quickly change back to human. He pushed the door open and ran to her.

"Valerie!" He knelt beside her. "Valerie, are you alright? Please, talk to me!"

As soon as his hand touched her back, Valerie flinched. She raised her head and blinked like someone who'd just stepped out of a tunnel into direct sunlight. She looked awful: her dark curly hair was unkempt, her skin looked dry and blotchy and there were dark lines of dried mascara running down her cheeks. She wiped her nose with the heel of her palm and scowled.

"What are _you_ doing here?" she hissed. Her throat must have been sore.

"I haven't heard from you all day. I was worried. What happened? Are you okay?" He tried to put an arm around her so he could help her up but she shook him off so violently that it gave him pause. "Valerie?"

"How did you get in here? The door is locked."

"Valerie, what happened here?" Danny persisted. "Did someone do this to you?"

Valerie cocked her head and narrowed her eyes, studying him in silence before letting out a snort of deranged laughter. She bowed her head and dug her fingers into her scalp. "So it's true," she muttered. "It really is true."

Danny was well and truly afraid now. His girlfriend was acting crazy: rocking back and forth, mumbling to herself, pulling her hair. He couldn't imagine what must have happened to put her in this state. His mind began concocting a dozen scenarios, all sordid and terrifying. He could feel the pulsing of arteries in his temple. If someone had laid a finger on her, specter or otherwise, they were going to pay dearly. That was a promise.

He took a step toward her but she backed away. "Baby, please, if something is wrong let me help you," he said gently. She stood and hung her head, her curls falling over her face. Her shoulders were quaking now. He reached out and took her hand. She recoiled and tucked her hand close to her body like a snake had bitten her.

"Don't touch me!" she yelled hoarsely. Her green eyes flashed. "Never touch me! You disgusting _ghost!"_

Danny's hand went limp and he froze.

Valerie jabbed a finger at him. "Yes, I know all about you, _Danny Phantom." _She spat out his name like word-sludge. She grabbed the camcorder off the bed. "Here's a tip: next time you go all ghost, make sure you don't get _caught on tape_!" She let the camera roll off her fingers. It landed on her messy floor with a soft thud.

She went on about how he had tricked her, how he and his friends had probably laughed at stupid Valerie for not seeing the truth when it was right under her nose, about what a fabulous actor he had been and how she'd fallen for his innocent act hook, line and sinker, what a fool she was, so stupid stupid _stupid_ … The young man towards whom the tirade was aimed could only gape. He knew he should say something and oh, how he wanted to, but his ability to construct even a remotely cogent sentence seemed to have escaped him.

It was the air bending inches from his ear and the crash of glass into the wall behind him that snapped him out of his stupor. A picture frame that held a photo of the couple in happier times now lay shattered on the ground.

"Get out!"

Danny raised his hands, palms outwards in a gesture of peace. "Valerie, please, hear me out. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I just didn't know how. I love you—"

"No!" she covered her ears. "No more lies. No more meaningless words. Just get out!" She threw her alarm clock at him. He ducked and she backed him out of her room, throwing everything from pillows to a lamp at him. "You ruined my life!"

He ducked behind the kitchen counter as her hair dryer bounced off the tiled-surface. "That was an accident, Valerie," Danny tried to explain. "I swear I never, ever meant to hurt you."

"I've heard it all before," she countered.

He carefully peeked and then straightened up. "Then you need to listen, just this one time. That day in the lab I was trying to _stop _that ghost dog. I never meant for anything bad to happen, for your dad to lose his job. I am so, so sorry for everything you suffered because of me, Valerie. Only heaven knows how much. And I wanted to tell you so many times, but I was afraid I'd lose you. I may be half-ghost, but I love you with every part of me."

Valerie knit her eyebrows, her green eyes reflecting the turmoil in her heart. Her shoulders were slumped and her hands limp by her sides. She sighed through trembling lips. She looked so fragile, so defeated right then that the only thing Danny wanted to do was put his arms around her.

He began to advance tentatively. He'd scarcely taken three steps when she pulled out a blaster from seemingly nowhere and aimed it at his head. He froze in his tracks.

"I should shoot you where you stand," she growled. Her expression had darkened. The whole apartment was deathly silent, save for the muffled whirr of the fridge. Tension enveloped them both.

Valerie's finger moved to the trigger. The two continued to eye each other. She wanted nothing more than to punish him for what he'd done to her. He had made her suffer, lied to her for two years – he deserved to pay. But try as she might, she couldn't do it. If he had been in ghost form, maybe. But while he was standing there, looking at her like that, his beautiful blue eyes shining with tears and his stance one of total surrender, she couldn't do it. Some stubborn corner of her heart still held on to the feelings she had for him.

"Get out," she ordered him in a low voice. She still had the weapon leveled at him. "Don't ever come near me again." He didn't try to protest this time, just communicated infinite sadness with one final look and quietly walked out. She went to the window and watched him get into his car. He stole one more glance up at the apartment and turned the key in the ignition. As he pulled away from the curb, a line from a poem she had read in English class came to mind: _What's the sound of two hearts breaking?_

The purr of his engine faded into the night and suddenly she knew the answer.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hola amigos! I have returned bearing gifts. This chapter is slightly longer than the others and I had so mcuh fun writing it, especially Jack's part. I was terrified of writing Jack 'cause I thought, how do I keep him in character? But the buffoon practically wrote himself and I love him for it. I'm still wary of him as he reappears in later chaps, but I thought he came out okay here. So without further ado, read. And don't forget to leave a comment. :) Peace. **

**Chapter 6**

Jack Fenton knocked lightly and stuck his head in his son's room. It would have been completely dark were it not for the slivers of sunshine sneaking through the narrow gap in the curtains.

"Danny, may I come in?"

Danny moaned or some such noise. Jack looked back questioningly at Maddie, who nodded furiously and pushed him. He stumbled into the room, regained his bearings and adjusted his orange jumpsuit. He cleared his throat and stood beside Danny's bed. Moments later, Danny felt the side of the bed sink and turned to face his father who was grinning, but was also sweating like he was sitting on a grenade.

"Oh no," he groaned. "This isn't going to be one of those awkward father-son talks, is it?"

Jack scratched his greying temple and smiled nervously. "Afraid so."

Danny pulled himself into a sitting position and drew his knees to his chest. "Alright," he sighed with resignation, "lay it on me."

"Your mother told me what happened," the older Fenton began. "You and your girl being Splitsville, I mean."

"I figured," the younger man replied flatly. _Splitsville? Who still says that after 1965?_

There was a pause.

"Well, uh," Jack rubbed the back of his neck, "stiff upper lip, son. Plenty more fish in the sea and all that." He coughed and snuck a glance at his son. Danny was staring at him expectantly. Despite the cynicism he had expressed, he wanted his Dad to make him feel better. It was the same way he would look at his father when he fell off his bike. Jack knew how to deal with scraped elbows and skinned knees but broken hearts were out of his expertise. Still, for his only son, he was going to try.

He angled himself towards Danny. "Son, I know you're hurting right now and I'm not the best at these kinds of things, but I want you to know we're here for you – your mother and I – and we love you."

Danny's eyes shimmered and he reached over and hugged his father. The older Fenton grunted in surprise and then closed his arms around his boy. They didn't do this enough, this hugging thing. It felt nice.

"I hate this pain."

Jack bit his lip. Danny sounded so much like a wounded six-year old it was liable to make _him_ cry. He hugged him harder. "I know, but it will end. I don't know when, but it will. And that's the Fenton guarantee!"

Danny pulled away and actually grinned. "Thanks, Dad."

Jack grinned back. He gave himself a mental pat on the back. What had Maddie been so nervous for? He'd been doing this dad thing for twenty years almost. He had picked up a thing or two – he wasn't a complete idiot. "Besides," he added, standing up, "You and Sam have been friends for years and I know despite this bump in the road she still cares about you—"

The Fenton boy tensed immediately. "Sam?" he broke in harshly. "Why are we talking about her? What does she have to do with this?"

Jack's mouth opened and closed. "But I… isn't she… I thought…"

"My girlfriend's name is Valerie!" Danny declared. His face took on a tropical burn but it wasn't clear if it was from anger or embarrassment. "Jeez, Dad, you've met her! She's had dinner here for crying out loud!"

_Valerie… _Jack racked his brain. The name was familiar but it certainly wasn't the name he'd had inscribed on his old class ring and bequeathed to Danny. He'd always assumed that Danny had meant it for Sam. Boys and girls, particularly teenagers, couldn't be that close without being romantically involved, at least not on Gossip Girl (which he only knew about because Jazz had once left the TV tuned to it, not because he actually watched it, of course. He was all Deadliest Catch and other similarly _manly_ shows). He studied the wallet photo his son was shoving in his face.

"Who, _her_? But she's so out of your league!" he exclaimed before he could stop himself. His shoulders slackened. He could mentally hear his Dad points dropping to naught. "Aw, crud."

"Just get out, Dad," Danny growled, turning his back to him.

"Uh, I meant, time heals all wounds?" Jack made a last feeble attempt to get back into his son's good graces.

Danny whipped out his arm and pointed at the door. "Leave."

Jack trudged out, only to find his seething wife awaiting him. The glacial expression on her face said it all, really.

"So, I'm guessing tonight there's not gonna be any…"

"Not even if you begged," she replied and flounced off.

Jack hung his head. He had _so _been looking forward to checkers.

...

...

"She is unbelievable!"

"Danny is the one who said he didn't want any visitors," Tucker reminded her. "Mrs. Fenton was just doing what he asked. We can always come back tomorrow."

The two were walking home from Danny's place, where his mom had regretfully denied them access to their friend. Sam had insisted that there's no way Danny would ever not want to see them – they weren't just _any_ visitors, but Mrs. Fenton had been adamant. Eventually, Tucker was forced to drag Sam away as she seemed liable to tackle Maddie Fenton in her frustration.

"I don't mean her!" Sam snapped. "Valerie! She's the reason Danny turned us away! He has _never _turned us away."

"It's only been two days," Tucker shoved his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts. "Maybe he just needs time to process."

Sam rolled her eyes. "Now you sound like Jazz!"

"I've missed her," the brown-skinned boy mused, "Maybe I should give her a call, catch her up."

But his remarks were lost on Sam as she had moved ahead of him and on to the next part of her diatribe. The back view of her black T-shirt showed a spinal column and the back of the ribcage as would be seen through an X-ray. It was a disturbingly realistic image. She had paired the shirt with a pair of denim shorts that curved over her modest rear, sheer black tights and her usual lace-up boots. Tucker had been converted to the flip-flop movement, which made more sense than heavy boots in the increasingly warm weather.

"She is the biggest hypocrite I've ever met! How _dare_ she be mad at Danny! It's not like she was exactly forthright about her own alter-ego." She was punctuating every word with forceful hand gestures, so much so that she narrowly avoided hitting a thick-necked, heavily bearded passer-by in the nose. The man's face immediately reddened but Sam was oblivious to his ire. Tucker had to apologize profusely on her behalf because he was the one likely to end up injured if the situation came to blows and, call him particular, but he _liked_ the current arrangement of his face.

"You need to calm down," he said, grabbing firm hold of her upper arms.

Sam narrowed her violet eyes at him and pouted. The failing sunshine painted one side of her face a soft orange and glinted against her nose-stud. Tucker observed, not for the first time, that her shadowy eye make-up and dark lip colour only served to harshen what was actually a delicate and beautiful face.

"And you should be madder," she retorted. "He's your best friend. You've known him even longer than I have and here you are acting like it's no big deal!"

"I am mad," he answered. "I hate to see Danny so down, believe me. But I'm not going to take it out on all the wrong people."

The Goth girl seemed to be focusing on some indeterminate spot behind Tucker. She had this dangerous glint in her eye and when her lips spread into a smile, his worst fears were confirmed: Sam was having one of her _ideas._

"You're right," she admitted slowly, in a humble tone that would have fooled anyone who didn't know her. Tuck wasn't buying it. "I should be taking it out on the _right_ person."

Before his tongue could form a protest, she had bolted down the street. He blinked in shock before running after her. She was weaving between the other pedestrians with a feline agility Tucker had forgotten she possessed. She might not necessarily have seemed like it, but Samantha Manson was remarkably athletic. In fact, she was the only one in the trio of friends who had never been in danger of flunking P.E. He, on the other hand, kept bumping into folks and tossing windblown apologies over his shoulder. Instead of running straight to Fenton Works, she made a sharp right. The chasing boy cursed under his breath when it dawned on him what her destination was.

"No, Sam, no."

But she crossed the road without checking and ran straight to Valerie's building. By the time he caught up with her she was pounding on the door with the side of her fist.

"Valerie! Open up, Valerie! I know you're in there – I saw your dad's car outside. Valerie!"

Tucker took a few moments to catch his breath, leaning heavily against the wall. Man, he hated exercise. His chest heaved and sweat rolled down the back of his neck. Using his beret to fan his heated skin, he swallowed hard and straightened up.

"Sam," he panted. "What… do you think…?"

"Valerie Grey, get out here! We need to talk!" She banged on the door again but predictably there was no response. Unlike Tucker, she looked fresh as a daisy and the flush in her skin was from her irritation rather than exertion.

A door opened but it wasn't the one they expected. Down the hall, a vexed neighbor stuck his head out. He glared at the teens who were the source of the racket. Tucker took a discreet couple of steps away from Sam as if to say, "I'm not with her."

"Will you kids stop making that noise?" he demanded. "Some of us are trying to relax in our own homes."

"Two words," Sam sneered in reply. "Better toupee."

The man balked and clutched his straw-coloured hair piece in horrified humiliation. He disappeared back into his apartment with a slam of his door, mumbling about rude kids.

Tucker took hold of Sam's elbow. "We should go," he hissed. He didn't need to whisper but he felt that he had to compensate for his friend's loudness. "Come on!" But Sam was stubborn as a rock, insisting that she wasn't going anywhere until "no-good hypocrite" faced her.

There was a click as the door down the hall opened again. Tucker's mouth went dry as a huge Doberman pinscher emerged. It growled.

"Uh, Sam?"

She turned and spotted the snarling dog. "Tucker," she began, finally lowering her voice. "Just stay calm. Whatever you do, don't—"

"RUN!"

The boy screamed hysterically and tore down the hall. Sam pressed herself against the wall as the dog bounded after him with a sharp bark. She stood, torn for a moment between staying and seeing her mission through or going to the aid of her friend, whose cries could be heard echoing down the stairs. More of the Greys' neighbours had come out to see what the bedlam was about. The man she had insulted sniggered triumphantly. She rewarded him her with filthiest stare and then, with a frustrated roar, she abandoned her post by Valerie's door and followed Tucker out into the night.


End file.
